Hong Kong -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Smog in Beijing is now so bad and such a regular occurrence that the country 's civil aviation authority will require the pilots of even small commercial airlines to be able to perform `` blind landings . ''

The move is aimed at easing delays at Beijing Capital International Airport , which has had the worst flight delays out of 35 international airports .

According to China 's state-run China Daily , the Civil Aviation Administration of China -LRB- CAAC -RRB- will from January 1 require pilots flying from China 's 10 busiest airports to Beijing to be able to use instrument-landing system on hazy days with a visibility of 400 meters .

`` It is part of a series of measures the administration took recently to raise flights ' on-time performance , '' a CAAC source told the China Daily .

Large passenger aircraft from international airlines require their pilots to have a `` blind landing category 2 '' certification allowing them to land in poor visibility . This was one of the reasons , the source pointed out , that international airlines suffered fewer delays .

The latest bout of smog in Beijing and Shanghai has led to the cancellation or delay of hundreds of flights , stranding passengers and creating chaos at airports .

Chinese media reports said that while 80 % of the pilots at Spring Airlines , half of China Eastern and most of Juneyao Airlines pilots had received training , only larger airports such as those in Shanghai , Guangzhou and Xian were equipped with ground systems that allowed for blind landings .

A pilot with Cathay Pacific , who did not want to be named because he was not authorized to speak , said that modern jetliners can be brought to land in zero visibility .

`` The greatest limitation is really being able to taxi off the runway , '' he told CNN , adding that modern aircraft had three systems on-board that could auto-land a plane .

He said training in these systems involved identifying deficiencies or failures in any of the systems and establishing at what point the pilots would have to abort a landing .

He added that the problems that smog and pollution created for aviation was not just isolated to China and that other countries had also struggled with the problem .

`` The whole concept of auto-land was developed in England in the 1960s for the fog that London gets and on top of that all the pollution that they got at the time , '' he said . `` This is just the same technology moving into the industrial revolution that 's happening in China at the moment . ''

@highlight

Chinese pilots for even small airlines will be required to get ` blind landing ' training due to smog

@highlight

Aviation authority says smog is now so bad that it is causing delays in flight scheduling

@highlight

International airlines have on board systems that allow them to land with next to no visibility

@highlight

The latest bout of smog in Beijing and Shanghai has led to the cancellation or delay of hundreds of flights